"I am running for president of the United States," she said. "And I'm very excited about it."

Harris spoke out against President Donald Trump and the government shutdown while answering questions at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington D.C., on Monday. She said: "He is now holding the American people hostage over a vanity project that he calls a wall while 800,000 people are trying to figure out how they're going to pay their rent, how they're going to pay their mortgage. It is completely irresponsible. Those folks don't want a wall, they want a paycheck."